The depth of Ricciardo’s riches

Daniel Ricciardo’s skill at overtaking was never in doubt but his remarkable performance in China was confirmation of just how far he is willing to go. “I know what I can do in the car,” he said before the Australian Grand Prix. “Even if there is a 10% possibility then I am going to do it.” He made good on this promise with aplomb in Shanghai. His pass on Lewis Hamilton was a perfect combination of timing and late-braking but the move on Valtteri Bottas was something else. Ricciardo knew the win was within his grasp but where other drivers may have been more circumspect the Australian wanted to use his tyre advantage while he had it. He committed into turn four up the inside, a racer’s manoeuvre if ever there was one. Bottas was skilful and professional in giving him room but, as he had said, Ricciardo knew exactly what he could do in the car.

Verstappen has lessons to learn

Red Bull still have great faith in Max Verstappen and his raw talent is obvious but three races into the season Ricciardo’s team-mate could learn from the Australian. Verstappen spun in Melbourne, crashed in qualifying in Bahrain and then had to retire after an overambitious move on Hamilton. His clash with Sebastian Vettel, which cost the German places in Shanghai, was worse by far. Vettel saw him coming, knew the place was gone and gave him space but the 20-year-old was still too hot, locked-up heavily and caught Vettel. The contrast with Ricciardo on Hamilton could not be greater. The team principal, Christian Horner, said he was “fully confident” Verstappen would learn from the mistake. But it is perhaps Red Bull’s head of motorsport, Helmut Marko, he should really heed. “He just shouldn’t overdo it. He knows what he lost,” Marko said. “There was a victory for him on the table but he gave it away.”

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Raikkonen feels the pain

A difficult weekend for Ferrari but perhaps harder for Kimi Raikkonen to take. The Finn did secure third place but of concern was the indication that Ferrari were willing to sacrifice him to help Vettel’s championship fight. After Vettel had been jumped in the pitstops by Bottas they left Raikkonen out on worn tyres, lapping ever slower in what appeared to be a move to block Bottas when he caught him. It failed as Bottas swiftly dispatched him but without the intervention of the safety car it would have dropped Raikkonen down at least to sixth. It may be the case Ferrari had opted to keep him out as the best chance of a win, gambling on a safety car stop to favour Raikkonen but backing Vettel as they did last season seems the more likely rationale. Raikkonen perhaps knows it, describing it as: “A painful race and not a very enjoyable one.”

Williams have their work cut out

A terrible start to the season only faintly improved in China with Williams’ Lance Stroll finishing 14th and Sergey Sirotkin 15th. The scale of the problems facing the team was illustrated when Paddy Lowe, the chief technical officer, welcomed it as a positive result. “Compared to where we were in Bahrain it’s fantastic,” he said. In Bahrain they qualified 18th and 20th. The team have not completed the opening three races without scoring a point since 2009 – when they finished ninth in the championship. They are 10th but at least Lowe was impressively honest in China. “We cannot allow anything to detract from the fact we were not able to build a good enough car,” he said, but was optimistic more was to come. “I can’t give a time frame but we are going to make significant progress in this first half of the season.”

Tyre changes are having an impact

Bringing a wider and softer range of tyres to increase strategy options this season was one of the targets given to Pirelli. They delivered the softer rubber and there are early indications that it will lead to a greater variation in racing. In Bahrain eight strategies were used by the drivers who finished in the top 10. In China they took the more interesting step of bringing the soft and ultrasoft tyres, dropping the supersoft, making the performance differential even greater. Red Bull needed to use the ultrasoft in qualifying and it committed them to the two-stop race that ultimately worked out so strongly in their favour, as it did for Renault who scored a sixth place. Pirelli are not there yet, before the safety car the four leaders were all still on a one stop but the rubber the tyre manufacturer has provided is at least offering more variables across the grid this season.